Summary Of Cultural Competency

The increasing population of immigrants in the United States has contributed to health disparities in the health care system. Cultural competence can remove health disparities by eliminating personal biases, and treating every person with respect. Simply recognizing and accepting different cultures is not enough, one must be able to consistently recognize and understand the differences in order to be culturally competent. Knowledge and culturally competent practices are a must for nurses to deliver quality care in our rapidly changing multicultural world (Edelman, 2014 p. 25).

From this article I have selected two of the points the author discussed that I found most interesting. The first is the need for cultural competence and cultural safety in nursing practice. The author then defines culture as distinct from ethnicity and race and points out the importance of cultural awareness in nursing education and being aware of the significant impact of the culture of the patient on professional practice and the consequences for relations between nurses and

Cultural competence is the ability to interact well with people of different cultural backgrounds (Rundle, 2002). It provides the best ways of meeting the needs of diverse patient population which is always on the increase, as well as ways of effectively advocating for them. This means that cultural competence has the benefit of enabling nurses to deliver services that respect and effectively respond to health beliefs and practice needs of diverse patients. Through the process of globalization, nurses are moving to places of nursing shortage to offer their knowledge and skills beyond their home

The nursing profession has a long history of assessing and placing patient needs first when giving care. The tenets of nursing practice include meeting those needs using individualized care by collaborating with the patient, family, and health care team members. (American Nurses Association, 2010). The concept of transcultural nursing aligns with these tenets because it calls on nurses to provide patient-centered care by taking into account the patient’s background, beliefs, culture and values. In this paper, I will identify the factors that made it necessary to develop the transcultural nursing theory, describe the meaning of diversity and its relationship to the field of nursing, and explain three ways that I provide culturally sensitive care to my patients.

The term culture is defined as “the thoughts, communications, actions, customs, beliefs, values, and institutions of racial, ethnic, religious, or social groups” (Potter & Perry, 2013). With the increase of culturally diverse populations in the United States, it is important for nurses to practice cultural competence. Cultural competence is the ability to acquire specific behaviors, skills, attitudes, and policies in a system that permits “effective work in a cross-cultural setting” (OMH, 2013). Being culturally competent is essential because nurses who acknowledges and respects a patient’s health beliefs and practices are more likely to have positive health outcomes (OMH, 2012). Every culture has certain views and attitudes concerning

Cultural competence can be defined as using the ability of one’s awareness, attitude, knowledge and skill to effectively interact with a patient’s many cultural differences. Madeline Leininger, a pioneer on transcultural nursing describes it this way; “a formal area of study and practice focused on comparative human-care differences and similarities of the beliefs, values and patterned lifeways of cultures to provide culturally congruent, meaningful, and beneficial health care to people” (Barker, 2009, p. 498). The importance of cultural diversity in healthcare allows for the delivery of appropriate cultural autonomy. Showing respect for others will lead to trust between nurse and

In order to deliver nursing care to different cultures, nurses are expected to understand and provide culturally competent health care to diverse individuals. Culturally competent care is tailored to the specific needs of each client, while incorporating the individual’s beliefs and values (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2006, p. 90). By being culturally competent, nurses are able to help improve health outcomes by using cultural knowledge and specific skills in selecting interventions that are specific to each client (Stanhope & Lancaster). Therefore, nurses “should perform a cultural assessment on every client with whom they interact with” (Stanhope &

With the large increase multicultural population in the United States, nurses encounter patients with differences in healthcare beliefs, values and customs. To provide adequate nursing care, nurses must be aware of these differences. They must respect and acknowledge the patient’s culture. To do this, nurses need education on cultural competence to ensure patient satisfaction and better patient outcomes.

Cultural competency is becoming essential in American healthcare with the increasing and diversification of immigration. The Department of Homeland Security, 2014 statistics indicates over 750,000 immigrants received naturalization in the US. These naturalized citizens represent over 20 countries varying from Hispanic, Indian, Asian, African, and Middle Eastern cultures. A change in the way American healthcare treats these cultures is necessitated to provide efficient care and achieve positive outcomes. Douglas et al. (2014) guidelines are to empower patients to help diminish the inequities of their own healthcare. The guidelines for culturally competent care are meant to guide the nurse, nurse educators, and nurse managers in their competent treatment of persons of other cultures. These guidelines mandate a nurse use education, self-assessment and reflection, and diversification of the workforce to meet the demands. The ten guidelines are knowledge of culture, education and training in culturally competent care, critical reflection, cross-cultural communication, culturally competent practice, cultural competence in health care systems and organizations, patient advocacy and empowerment, multicultural workforce, cross-cultural leadership, and evidence-based practice and research.

Being culturally competent and delivering culturally sensitive care is imperative for anyone in the medical profession. It is important because of the many diversities faced every day in the health care field. However, simply understanding the fact that there are so many health disparities is not enough. In order to reach out and effectively care for patients of different backgrounds and cultures one must understand the importance of cultural competency. In order to be culturally competent, a nurse must have knowledge of the different cultures, and

The United States of America is infamous for being a melting pot of different cultures and ethnicities. The diversity in America is great and in theory is an amazing asset to this nation. However, as a society we tend to allow our differences to segregate us and alienate those who are different. By not embracing the diversity among us, many complications are created. For instance, as a result of an inability to respect other cultures, prejudice, discrimination, and tragic violence often occur. People begin to fight with others for the sole reason that they do not hold all the same beliefs. Also, as a result of the difficulties associated with poor acceptance of cultural diversity, communication becomes muddled and misunderstandings become prevalent, creating a society where different peoples are unable to communicate with each other affectively. The way to combat these problems lies in cultural competency. Cultural competency is an understanding that everyone is different while also encouraging respect and tolerance of these varying cultures. As exemplified by the nursing profession, cultural competency benefits all and has the potential to create a more just society for the common good. In nursing, an intolerance of different peoples can mean the difference between survival and death, just as it can for greater society, both literally and figuratively. As encapsulated by the nursing profession, an application of cultural competency creates a society where our

Cultural competence in nursing involves the application of skills, knowledge, personal attributes, and attitudes required by practitioners to maintain a respectful relationship with patients, co-workers, and other clients. Markedly, the essential components of competent cultural care in nursing includes cultural skill, cultural awareness, cultural encounter, cultural knowledge, and cultural desire. Cultural awareness involves an in-depth self-examination of one’s professional and cultural background whereas cultural knowledge includes gathering information of various ethnic and cultural groups. The ability of a nurse to acquire cultural data of a patient and perform a specific assessment of it is known as cultural skill. A cultural encounter is a process where nurses are involved in cross-cultural relations with patients from varying cultural backgrounds. The motivation to engage in cultural encounters and become culturally aware is referred to as cultural desire (Huber, 2009).

The development of the Giger and Davidhizar Transcultural Assessment Model (GDTAM) came about because of nursing students’ need to provide culturally diverse care for patients. The model acknowledges that each culture is individually unique and assesses them according to six phenomena: communication, space, social organization, time, environmental control, and biological variations. In this model “nurses must use transcultural nursing knowledge as a skill and an art to provide care to diverse populations in a culturally appropriate and competent manner” (Sagar, 2012, p. 57). It goes on to discuss how the model sees cultural competence as “a dynamic process implemented by an individual or health care agency by using significant interventions based on the client’s ‘cultural

The U.S. population is growing and becoming increasingly diverse. Killian and Waite (2009) noted that registered nurses must be knowledgeable, sensitive and be able to adapt their delivery of care and treatment to people from different cultures. Educating nurses about cultural diversity helps students learn respect and appreciation for differences. The purpose of this Capstone project is to raise registered nurses’ understanding of cultural differences through diversity education. This chapter’s project plan is to create a cultural diversity educational program for registered nurses with multiple learning activities including, but not limited to lectures, discussions, videotapes and class evaluations. This is a class for registered nurses and they are required to maintain a confidential discussion environment. This is a cultural enlightenment class. Students will learn about different cultural experiences and may view their own cultural in a different light. The plan of this class is to ignite an awareness of other cultures while caring for patients and to understand that a person’s culture has a profound effect on their positive/negative outcomes.

Often without being aware of it, individuals can rely on preconceived ideas about others based on how that other person appears or acts. Sometimes these stereotypes and resulting discrimination can extend into other areas of life, such as receiving or delivering health care. Healthcare practices and regard for healthcare employees vary across the different cultures. Patients differ due to various aspects. These differences constitute of patient illness, personality, socioeconomic class or education, however the most endless variation is cultural. Race, religion, language, education, ethnicity and economic status are the essence of culture that has a significant influence on an individual 's health and wellbeing. Skills are crucial for ensuring that nursing care is culturally congruent; knowledge of cultures is important for facilitating communication with people. Nurses must use effective, culturally competent, communication with patients that takes into consideration the individual’s verbal and nonverbal language, cultural values, background and unique healthcare needs and views.